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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Former Fox 26 KRIV reporter Ned Hibberd and executive producer Geoff Roth are working on TV news of the future

For years we've heard about the future of TV news like what job skills you'll need to have in a decade. Well, I'd say the future is finally here.

Ned Hibberd

NewsFix on CW39 KIAH has received lots of press about revolutionizing TV news, but now some longtime Houston TV dudes are getting attention for their work.

Former Fox 26 KRIV reporter Ned Hibberd and executive producer Geoff Roth packed up last year and moved to newly acquired Fox owned Charlotte, NC station WJZY. Adopting the Chasing New Jersey concept, the two have launched My Fox Carolinas News @10.

My Fox Carolinas News @10 is informal with no highly stylized set or anchor desk. Instead, the "senior digital journalist" — elsewhere known as an anchor — orchestrates the newscast by walking around the newsroom, stopping by reporters who tell their stories or tease upcoming ones. Sometimes they stand together; sometimes, the reporter sits at his or her desk.

Weather reports emanate from the heart of the newsroom, with the weathercaster standing in front of a large, free-standing screen. The segments are so full of odd camera angles that viewers cannot always see the weather graphics. Mark Washburn, the Charlotte Observer’s media critic, calls My Fox Carolinas “cocktail party news,” primarily because of its casual, chatty nature. READ THE REST

Each reporter has his or her own JVC 650 camcorder, which Roth calls “a live truck in a camera.” The camera is capable of streaming live shots via Wi-Fi.

For packaged reports, they have laptop computers, which they can use to edit stories and send them to the station at Wi-Fi hot spots.

The reporters are also outfittted with iPhones with a Vericorder app that allows them to shoot, edit and send stories using only the device, Roth says.

Using the unobtrusive smartphone allow one reporter to get video from inside an apartment complex that houses homeless teens, Roth says. “If a camera crew had shown up, they would never have let us do it." READ THE REST

The video embedded above, produced by NewsLab, is an interview with Roth about how journalists must now possess all kinds of digital knowledge.

Fox has become intrigued with this "TMZ style" of news. It's more like broadcasting a newsroom pre-show meeting and sending out these multi-media journalists out to do the stories. The biggest reason Fox likes this is for the bottom line. You're not hiring anchors with big names and subsequently big salaries. Not to mention, you need a much smaller newsroom staff as the talent edits their own stuff. I worked with Ned for 13 years. He's a great journalist and a hard worker. I didn't work with Geoff at KRIV. I was already gone when he arrived. I like Ned, so I hope he succeeds. However, I'm not happy with the fact that Fox keeps trying to cut corners when it comes to staff. And yet every year at Christmas I get a letter from Rupert Murdoch telling me thanks to the employees who continue to make the company a huge success and he how he couldn't have done it without us.